Book of Common Prayer
97 O how I love Thy torah! It is my meditation kol hayom.
98 Thou through Thy mitzvot hast made me wiser than mine enemies: for they are ever with me.
99 I have more understanding than every melamed of mine: for Thy edot are my meditation.
100 I understand more than the zekenim, for I keep Thy pikkudim.
101 I have refrained my feet from every orakh rah, in order that I might be shomer over Thy Devar.
102 I have not departed from Thy mishpatim: for Thou hast taught me.
103 How sweet are Thy words unto my palate! Sweeter than devash to my mouth!
104 Through Thy pikkudim I get understanding: therefore I hate every orakh sheker. Nun
105 Thy word is a ner unto my feet, ohr unto my path.
106 I have sworn a shevuah, and I will perform it, that I will keep Thy righteous mishpatim.
107 I am afflicted very much: revive me, Hashem, according unto Thy word.
108 Accept the nidvot of my mouth, O Hashem, and teach me Thy mishpatim.
109 My nefesh is continually in my yad: yet do I not forget Thy torah.
110 The resha’im have laid a pach for me: yet I erred not from Thy pikkudim.
111 Thy edot have I taken as a heritage forever: for they are the sasson lev of me.
112 I have inclined mine lev to perform Thy chukkot forever, even unto the end. Samech
113 I hate the doubleminded: but Thy torah do I love.
114 Thou art my seter (hiding place) and my mogen: I hope in Thy Devar.
115 Depart from me, ye evildoers: for I will keep the mitzvot of Elohai.
116 Uphold me according unto Thy imrah, that I may live: and let me not be ashamed from my hope.
117 Hold Thou me up, and I shall be safe: and I will have respect unto Thy chukkot continually.
118 Thou hast rejected all them that err from Thy chukkot: for their deceitfulness is sheker (falsehood).
119 Thou puttest away all resha’im of eretz like dross; therefore I love Thy edot.
120 My basar trembleth for fear of Thee; and I am afraid of Thy mishpatim. AYIN
81 (For the one directing. On the gittis. Of Asaph.) Sing with joy unto Elohim uzeinu (our strength); make a joyful noise unto Elohei Ya’akov.
2 (3) Begin a song, and bring hither the tambourine, the pleasant kinnor (harp) with the nevel (lyre).
3 (4) Blow the shofar at Rosh Chodesh, at the full moon, on Yom Chageinu.
4 (5) For this was a chok for Yisroel, and a mishpat of the Elohei Ya’akov.
5 (6) This He ordained in Yosef for an edut, when He went out over Eretz Mitzra- yim; where a language of one not known did I hear.
6 (7) I removed his shekhem (shoulder) from the burden; his hands were delivered from the basket.
7 (8) In tzoros thou calledst, and I delivered thee; I answered thee in the seter ra’am (secret place of thunder); I tested thee at the waters of Merivah. Selah.
8 (9) Shema, O My people, and I will admonish thee; O Yisroel, if thou wilt pay heed unto Me;
9 (10) There shall no el zar (strange, foreign g-d) be among thee; neither shalt thou worship any el nechar (foreign g-d).
10 (11) I am Hashem Eloheicha Who brought thee out of Eretz Mitzrayim; open thy mouth wide, I will fill it.
11 (12) But My people would not pay heed to My voice; and Yisroel would have none of Me.
12 (13) So I gave them up unto their own hearts’ sherirut (stubbornness); and they walked in their own mo’atzot (counsels).
13 (14) Oh that My people had paid heed unto Me, and Yisroel had walked in My ways!
14 (15) I should soon have subdued their oyevim and turned My Yad (hand, power) against their adversaries.
15 (16) The haters of Hashem should have cringed before Him; their et (time, fate, punishment) endures l’olam.
16 (17) He would have fed them also with the finest of the chittah (wheat); and with devash (honey) from the Tzur would I have satisfied thee.
82 (Mizmor of Asaph.) Elohim standeth in the Adat El; He judgeth among the elohim [See Ps 82:6 and Yn 10:34].
2 Ad mosai (How long) will ye judge unjustly, and show partiality to the resha’im? Selah.
3 Defend the poor and yatom (fatherless); do justice to the oni (afflicted) and needy.
4 Deliver the poor and needy; rid them out of the yad resha’im.
5 They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in choshech; all the foundations of ha’aretz are shaken.
6 I have said, elohim ye are; and all of you are Bnei HaElyon.
7 But ye shall die like adam, and fall like one of the sarim (princes).
8 Arise, Elohim, judge ha’aretz; for Thou shalt inherit kol HaGoyim.
16 And the news thereof was heard in Bais Pharaoh saying, Achei Yosef are come; and it pleased Pharaoh well, and his avadim.
17 And Pharaoh said unto Yosef, Say unto thy achim, This do ye; load your beasts, and go, get you unto Eretz Kena’an;
18 And take Avichem and your households, and come unto me; and I will give you the best of Eretz Mitzrayim, ye shall eat the chelev haaretz.
19 Now thou art commanded, this do ye; take you agalot (wagons) out of Eretz Mitzrayim for your little ones, and for your nashim, and bring Avichem, and come.
20 Also regard not your kelim; for the best of kol Eretz Mitzrayim is yours.
21 And the Bnei Yisroel did so; and Yosef gave them agalot, according to the commandment of Pharaoh, and gave them provision for the derech.
22 To all of them he gave each man chalifot semalot; but to Binyamin he gave three hundred pieces of kesef, and chamesh chalifot semalot.
23 And to Aviv he sent after this manner; ten chamorim loaded with the best of Mitzrayim, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain and lechem and provision for Aviv for the derech.
24 So he sent his achim away, and they departed; and he said unto them, See that ye not quarrel by the derech.
25 And they went up out of Mitzrayim, and came into Eretz Kena’an unto Ya’akov avihem,
26 And told him, saying, Yosef chai! Yosef is yet alive, and he is Moshel kol Eretz Mitzrayim. And Ya’akov’s lev fainted, for he believed them not [see Lk 24:10-11 OJBC].
27 And they told him kol divrei Yosef, which he had said unto them; and when he saw the agalot which Yosef had sent to carry him, the ruach Ya’akov avihem revived;
28 And Yisroel said, It is enough; Yosef Beni chai! Yosef Beni is yet alive; I will go and see him before I die.
8 Now concerning the sacrifice to an elil (idol in avodah zarah, idol worship), we know that "we all possess da’as (knowledge)." But da’as puffs up (with ga’avah), but ahavah (agape 14:1) builds up.
2 If anyone presumes he has da’as of anything, he does not yet have da’as of the necessary da’as.
3 But if a person has Ahavas Hashem, Hashem has da’as of that person. [YIRMEYAH 1:5]
4 Now concerning the eating of the okhel (food) at the mizbe’ach of avodah zarah which is sacrificed to an elil (idol), we have da’as that an elil is nothing in the world, and that there is no G-d but ECHAD (DEVARIM 4:35, 39; 6:4).
5 For even if there are [in popular tradition] so-called "g-ds," whether in Shomayim or on ha’aretz, even as there are so-called "g-ds" many and "l-rds" many,
6 Yet in fact for us we have da’as that there is ADONOI ECHAD ("L-rd is One " DEVARIM 6:4), Hashem AV ECHAD L’CHULLANU ("One Father of us all” MALACHI 2:10), from whom are all things, and we exist for Hashem, and there is Adon Echad [MALACHI 3:1], Moshiach Yehoshua [ZECHARYAH 3:8; 6:11-12], through whom are all things and we through him.
7 However, not kol Bnei Adam have this da’as (knowledge). Some are so accustomed to the elil (idol) until now that when they eat, they think of the okhel (food) as being sacrificed to the elil in avodah zarah, and their matzpun (conscience), being weak, is made to be tameh (defiled).
8 But okhel (food) will not usher us into the presence of Hashem; neither are we falling short if we do not eat okhel, nor are we better if we eat.
9 But beware lest somehow your cherut (freedom) becomes a michshol (stumbling block) to the weak ones.
10 For if anyone sees you, the one having da’as (knowledge), eating in the temple of an elil, will not the matzpun of him be strengthened so as to eat the okhel sacrificed to an elil (idol) at the mizbe’ach of avodah zarah?
11 For the one being weak [in emunah] is being destroyed by your "da’as,” the Ach b’Moshiach for whom Moshiach died.
12 And thus by sinning against the Achim b’Moshiach and wounding their weak matzpunim (consciences), you commit averos against Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach.
13 Therefore, if okhel causes my Ach b’Moshiach to trip on a michshol, I should never eat meat again, lest I cause my Ach b’Moshiach to stumble.
13 And many shedim they were casting out, and they were anointing with shemen many cholim, and they were administering refuah to them.
14 And Herod the king heard of it, for the name of Yehoshua had become bavust (famous), and some were saying, Yochanan of the tevilah of teshuva has been made to stand up alive from [the] mesim, and for this reason the nissim (miracles) are at work in him.
15 But others were saying, It is Eliyahu HaNavi. Still others were saying, He is a navi, like one of the neviim of old. [MALACHI 4:5]
16 But when Herod heard of it, he kept saying, Yochanan whom I beheaded has stood up alive from the mesim!
17 For Herod himself had sent and had Yochanan arrested and bound in the beis hasohar, on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother, Philip, for he had married her.
18 But Yochanan was saying to Herod, It is not mutar according to the Torah for you to have your brother’s wife. [VAYIKRA 18:16, 20:21]
19 And Herodias bore a grudge against Yochanan and desired to kill him. But she could not.
20 For Herod feared Yochanan, knowing him [to be] a tzaddik and kadosh, and Herod was protecting Yochanan. And when Herod heard Yochanan, he was greatly disturbed, and [yet] gladly Herod was listening to Yochanan.
21 And, an opportune day having come, when Herod, on his yom huledet (birthday), gave a mishteh for the court of his nobles, and the military commanders, and those of chashivut (prominence) of the Galil, [ESTHER 1:3, 2:18]
22 And when his daughter entered and danced, she pleased Herod and the ones reclining at the seudah with him. And the king said to the girl, Ask me whatever you wish and I will give [it] to you.
23 And he made a shevuah (oath) to her solemnly, Whatever you ask me, I will give you, up to half of my Malchut. [ESTHER 5:3,6; 7:2]
24 And having gone out, she said to her mother, What should I ask [for]? And her mother said, The rosh Yochanan of the tevilah of teshuva.
25 And having entered, ofen ort, with haste before the king, she made a request, saying, You may give to me upon a platter the rosh Yochanan of the tevilah of teshuva.
26 And having become very sad, the king, on account of his shevuah and on account of the ones reclining at the seudah [with him], was unwilling to refuse her.
27 And, ofen ort, the king sent an executioner and commanded him to bring the rosh Yochanan. And having left, the executioner beheaded Yochanan of the tevilah of teshuva in the beit hasohar.
28 And he brought the rosh Yochanan upon a platter and gave it to the young girl, and the young girl gave it to her mother.
29 And, having heard this, Yochanan’s talmidim came and carried away his geviyah (body) and placed it in a kever (grave).
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